Something Precious
by Wavelet365
Summary: One of the most important themes in Naruto is the struggle of shinobi to protect what is precious to them. This story is all about Team Seven's struggle to protect what is precious to its members on a mission unlike any other.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and am not obtaining any profit from this work.

Author Notes: This oneshot is written, as should be clear from the beginning, as if, after chapter 402 (for which it has minor spoilers), Sasuke at sometime returns to the village as a member of Team Seven (even if this might seem extraordinarily unlikely as of 402). I also assume that all of the former Team Seven survives the manga.

**Something Precious**

It had all started as a simple mission to rendezvous with one of Konoha's operatives. Team Seven had finally been reunited after Naruto had beaten a few idiotic notions out of Sasuke's thick skull, but, even so, they were not yet trusted to complete high level missions. Thus, Team Seven's return to active duty began with a fairly simple mission. However, when they saw a target of opportunity, Team Seven knew that they could not afford to miss this chance.

The target was guarded by a jounin. Security was not unexpected, however, and they were not apprentices of the Legendary Sannin for nothing. Naruto attempted a frontal assault with Sasuke and Sakura, but this was nothing more than a feint. 'Sasuke' and 'Sakura' were just transformed shadow clones, and Naruto's real teammates were hidden (one underground and the other in a nearby tree).

The jounin's rank was clearly not for show, as he saw through the feint in an instant, managing to deflect Sakura's attack from the tree above him with a skillful leap out of her way. The earth below shattered under the titanic force of the girl's punch, defeating what remained of Naruto's replications without Team Seven's opponent needing to lift a finger. However, he had not counted on the third ninja who silently slid out from behind him, and pocketed Team Seven's target with a lightning fast grab.

Before the jounin had even realized what was happening, Sasuke was running. In this situation, the mission had to come first. They needed to keep this out of the enemy's hands at all costs. Too many Konoha shinobi had already suffered from the dastardly purpose to which their foe would put the target if it was recaptured. It was clear that their opponent knew this fact as well.

Uchiha Sasuke was fast. Only a handful of shinobi could compare to the last Uchiha's top speed. However, the ninja behind him was just as fast and clearly desperate. He was catching up. If that man caught him, Sasuke would not be able to fulfill his mission. There was only one option left in this situation. He would have to stay back and delay their opponent himself for the good of the mission.

Making the cross-seal for which his teammate was famous, Sasuke summoned a shadow clone and handed it the target. Then he turned, parrying the kunai his foe hurled at the clone with Kusanagi, as the clone ran towards Naruto and Sakura's position. They would have to handle the mission alone from here.

Sasuke pointed his blade towards his opponent and closed his eyes for an instant. When they opened again, his pupils were six-pointed stars.

"If you want to pass this point, you will have to first defeat me." He allowed himself a smirk. "Do you really think you're capable of that?"

However, as his foe stared straight into Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan (foolishly, Sasuke thought), the Uchiha heir felt a pressure descend upon him unlike anything he had ever felt before. Even for one who apprenticed under Orochimaru, this level of killing intent and sheer bloodlust was insane. It was as if he was not facing any sort of ninja, but a demon clothed in human form. It was as if he faced death itself. For an instant, Sasuke felt frozen by fear in a way he had thought long behind him. Then there was not time for fear or freezing up anymore. The shinobi was moving towards Sasuke faster than before, almost faster than Sasuke's eyes could follow. Sasuke's blade sliced through the air to parry one of the two kunai his opponent held in his hands, while the Uchiha's free hand moved to counter the second. The opponents met.

"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun? Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"

For almost thirty seconds, ever since his shadow clone vanished, Sakura had been trying to contact Sasuke. There were only a few reasons why a shadow replication would dispel. Either Sasuke dispelled the clone for some weird reason, the clone dispelled itself (in that case she would have appreciated a warning at the very least), or Sasuke was unconscious. She would not even consider the fourth possibility: death.

She turned to her companion, as the two leapt at top speed through the forest.

"Naruto, you don't think Sasuke-kun could be in trouble, do you? I mean, you don't think he might have lost, do you?"

Sakura left the obvious accompanying query unspoken: "should they go back for him?"

Naruto turned towards his long time teammate and offered her his most reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan! That bastard's really strong!"

Sakura did not miss that Naruto had failed to actually answer her question.

"Naruto, I'm being serious. What if he needs our help? I mean we just got him back and now we're just abandoning him!"

This time, when he replied, Naruto's expression was far more serious. She was struck, not for the first time, by just how much her friend had grown since they first became teammates.

"Sakura-chan, he knew the risks just like we did, and it was his choice." Then Naruto grinned like a cheshire cat. "Besides, the bastard's probably just ignoring you because he'd never be able to live it down if he got saved again by The Great Uzumaki Naruto!"

Sakura took a half-hearted swing at her friend, which he effortlessly dodged, and smiled. Naruto always knew just what to say to improve her mood. If Sasuke-kun couldn't reassure him herself, then Naruto was just about the best second choice possible.

Teasingly, she offered her teammate a haughty sniff in return.

"I think you have that backwards, Naruto. After all, wasn't it always Sasuke-kun and I who had to save you from your idiocy?"

"Hey, hey, that's not, or, I guess, well… I'm a lot different then I was back then, so there! After all, I beat Akatsuki! I'm the best!"

"If you say so Naruto," Sakura replied with just a touch of disbelief in her tone. She couldn't go too easy on her friend. After all, if Naruto's head got much bigger, it might explode, and, as a medic-nin, she thus needed to take every opportunity to help deflate said ballooning ego. It was for his own good.

Softly giggling at the turn her thoughts had taken, Sakura silently thanked Naruto for being himself. He really was the only person who could reassure her so easily.

Maybe forty feet back, she heard a branch creak a bit strangely. Sakura turned her head to look back. It wasn't Sasuke. It was the other guy. No way. He had beaten Sasuke that quickly? How could that be possible?

It didn't matter. She and Naruto were almost home free. Only a little further and they would be beyond his reach.

"Naruto, hurry! He's right behind us!"

"What!? No way!"

'How strong is he?' Sakura thought to herself. He had beaten Sasuke in what must have been less than a minute. Even the Akatsuki had not been that good.

"Heh. This'll keep him busy for a bit," Naruto said to himself with a grin. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

All of a sudden, the entire area behind them was filled with hundreds of clones. Every single replication was converging on a single target.

Their foe barely slowed at all.

Throwing a kunai and then making seals faster than either Naruto or Sakura could follow, the shinobi declared, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu," and, abruptly, the clones were little more than a smokescreen.

"Damn it, Naruto, you idiot! Now he could catch up at any-"

Suddenly, Naruto was alone. His teammate had suddenly cut off and disappeared into the smoke from his vanishing clones. He had to make it. He couldn't stop now after they had come so far. If he failed here, than what had Sasuke and Sakura sacrificed themselves for?

Suddenly, his enemy was right in front of him, having used the smoke to sprint ahead and drop down on Naruto from above.

Leaping back ten feet to gain some distance from his foe, Naruto stared into his opponent's eyes, testing the attacking shinobi's resolution. What he saw there would have made any other ninja's blood run cold. There was a deadly purpose in that ninja's eyes: a murderous intent stronger than Naruto had ever felt from even the Kyuubi. There was no choice. Naruto would have to make his stand here.

Naruto had never seen an opponent quite like the one he faced now. Perhaps, this was what Haku had meant all those years ago when he had said that "When a person has something important to protect…that's when they can truly become strong."

Well, Naruto had something important to protect as well. This was for himself, Sasuke, Sakura-chan, Tsunade-baachan, and the entire village of Konoha. No, Naruto would not fail here.

"Naruto, just give it back to me now and no one has to get hurt."

"Damn it, Kakashi-sensei! If you want your stupid pervy book back, then you're going to have to promise to be on time from now on!"

"Naruto, if you don't give me back my copy of Icha Icha Tactics right this instant, I'm going to have to get completely serious."

Kakashi's sharingan whirled before morphing into a kaleidoscope.

"Nothing doing, Kakashi-sensei! If you won't come on time, then this book is going straight into the fire!"

The battle was joined. It would be a conflict truly unlike any to which Konoha had born witness before. This was, after all, a battle to protect something truly precious.

End


End file.
